A Doctor's Touch to a Suit of Armor
by Nicallette Swigart
Summary: Tony just had to get himself trouble. He always does. Now he is involved with something truly dangerous and needs the assistance of someone medically trained. However, these two brilliant minds don't exactly see at each other's levels. Perhaps Tony should have considered the ramifications of this before he landed himself on her operating table. Tony/OC
1. Chapter 1

_Another day at the office._

Community Union Hospital was tearing itself apart as it struggled to acquire rooms for the crowd of patients they were receiving this morning. All the nurses were busting their butts trying to accommodate such a ridiculous number of patients, codes were screamed throughout the hallways, staff attempting to communicate through the numerous distractions present.

"Someone page Dr. Carmichael!" Someone called out from the Emergency Desk. "She's needed in Room 235!"

Thankfully out of everyone working in the hospital, throughout it's history, Dr. Carmichael had a strange habit of always being in the right place at the right time. Although she had been in surgery a mere ten minutes prior, Dr. Carmichael hurried herself over to the other room immediately.

"Status!" She called, already preparing her gloves and clean scrubs, the others were soaked to the seams with blood. "What's the situation?"

A nurse explained quickly, "Radical Multiple Pregnancy. The mother has three blood clots blocking the birth canal and she's having heart complications."

A very dangerous procedure. If done incorrectly, all lives involved could easily die within minutes. Even for someone as experienced as herself, Dr. Carmichael grew nervous as she came to the patient's bedside. She instantly felt sympathy for the young mother-to-be.

The woman was sweating heavily from her brow, both eyes bloodshot and cheeks redden from screaming for so long. These children had to be born soon, or else their continued presence would surely result in a traumatic death.

"Ma'am?" Carmichael spoke calmly. "I'm going to prepare a C-section and soon you'll be holding your beautiful babies, alright?" This was a promise. Not only to the woman in dire need, but also to herself. Carmichael wouldn't be responsible for these innocent lives dying. Not in her hands.

Three hours later, although bathed in the blood of her patient, Dr. Carmichael rushed two healthy baby boys off to the nursery for examination. Miss Carmichael smiled down to her exhausted patient, "Your sons are perfectly fine, ma'am. You'll see them soon, alright?"

No words of gratitude were needed. The beaming smile of a proud mother and her tears of thanks were enough for Carmichael. Leaving the patient in peace, Carmichael excused herself to the clean up station and removed her attire to the discard bin.

"Another successful operation," she thought aloud, praising herself a tad. "Thank goodness."

While taking a moment to rest in her office, Carmichael again was paged. Sighing slightly annoyed, she looked down at the page and instantly jumped from her chair. Another patient and this time it was a Code Violet;_Special Person of Interest_.

Carmichael ran down the hallways till she found herself in disbelief. There, laying on a gurney with blood pouring from his mouth, injures apparent throughout his body and the suit of armor no longer providing protection...was_ Tony Stark_.

"Mr. Stark?" Carmichael tried to gain his focus and attention. He was still awake, but staring lifelessly into space. "Mr. Stark? Can you hear me?" She asked again, staying at his side while the nurses hurried him off to a room.

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**A/N:** Please review! Thank you~


	2. Chapter 2

Tony was completely unresponsive to any of Dr. Carmichael's attempts at regaining his attention. The nurses maneuvered the gurney into a spacious room, already equipped with prepared, sterilized instruments for Dr. Carmichael's needs.

The weight of Tony's metal suit was surely applying unhealthy amounts of pressure onto his already injured body, so Carmichael instructed the attending nurses to carefully remove the armor piece by piece. Thankfully the suit seemed to comprehend Tony's current situation, for it automatically began removing itself, joining together into the form of a suitcase beside the gurney.

Although curious about Tony's manner of suit removal, the young doctor had no time to ponder questions. She needed to begin operating on Mr. Stark before his condition fell into a critical code. Carmichael again commanded her staff to carefully prepare Stark for surgery while she assessed his situation for further information.

Apparently he had been engaged in some sort of battle of the physical sort. Carmichael studied the report with observant eyes, taking in every detail, minor and major, nothing was skipped.

"Mr. Stark has three broken ribs, a fractured neck, bruising to his lungs, a broken left hand, sprained right foot, and severe damage to his skull from a brute force impact." Carmichael was amazed that he wasn't already declared dead. Then again, this was Tony Stark.

Still, with the sustained injuries, Tony would be out of commission for a few months. But first, Carmichael needed to tend to those immediate problems before he could be made comfortable and fed antibiotics.

She returned to the room with her hands raised and gloved, motioning for the nurses to make room for her beside Tony's bed. The young man was already dressed down, his shirt and pants removed, leaving him bare aside from some red boxers. Carmichael reached over for a scalpel and began her surgery.

Nearly ten nine hours later, Carmichael and her staff had finally managed to bring Stark to a stable condition and he was redressed in a medical gown for modesty. The room was cleaned up and the nurses brought Tony to another room which was more suitable for his present condition. Carmichael and her team had fixed the damage to his neck.

For now he was wearing a thick neck brace to keep the alignment straight. Tony's ribs would heal on their own accord, but until then, they wrapped him heavily in padding to prevent accidental injures. Tony was suited with a hand brace, foot brace and his head was wrapped with protective padding as well.

He bared a strong resemblance to a Mummy at this point, but surely the bruises and blood stains took away any humor from his otherwise comical appearance. Carmichael decided to treat the artificial injuries herself. The staff that had assisted her were already exhausted beyond comprehension. She wanted them to have some time to relax. As for her, well, work always came before anything, including her own needs.

Carmichael carefully began cleaning Tony's facial cuts and scrapes, applying antibiotic gels and rubbing alcohol to prevent infections. Despite not knowing Tony personally, Carmichael couldn't help but feel immense sympathy for him. Anyone would. Just taking one glance would break a compassionate person's heart. It surely did for Carmichael.

Tony was still unresponsive, but Carmichael tried to get him talking.

"Mr. Stark?"

_Nothing._

"Mr. Stark?"

_Silence. _

"Tony?"

Suddenly the man's torn lips began to open, but nothing was released by his voice. Carmichael bent down closer, her ear slightly brushing the prickly texture of his signature beard.

"Tony?"

_That's when she heard it. A faint whisper, but still a voice. _

"...Pepper..."

Although confused for a moment, Carmichael smiled at the realization that Tony was asking for his beloved assistant.

"I'll get her to you, Mr. Stark..."

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**A/N:** Please review! Thank you~


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